"Achieving justice in our own time is a task that taxes the resources of even the best societies. We should leave the past in the past." Thomas Sowell Is Reality Optional?
In my latest National Post column I say that closing ranks to defeat Marine Le Pen while ignoring the sources of the discontent she taps into would be to forget the lessons of Donald Trump if, indeed, people ever learned any.
"Suddenly it becomes evident that things which for thousands of years the human imagination had banished to a realm beyond human competence can be manufacture right here on earth, that Hell and Purgatory, and even a shadow of their perpetual duration, can be established by the most modern methods of destruction and therapy. To these people (and they are more numerous in any large city than we like to admit) the totalitarian hell proves only that the power of man is greater than they ever dared to think, and that man can realize hellish fantasies without making the sky fall or the earth open…. Nothing perhaps distinguishes modern masses as radically from those of previous centuries as the loss of faith in a Last Judgement: the worst have lost their fear and the best have lost their hope." Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, with specific reference to film footage from Nazi concentration camps
"It might be a good idea if the various countries of the world would occasionally swap history books, just to see what other people are doing with the same set of facts." Bill Vaughan, quoted as "Thought du jour" in Social Studies in Globe and Mail June 1, 2009
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius
Yahoo! The Kickstarter campaign has closed and The Environment: A True Story is funded. Thanks to everyone who made it happen. I'll keep people posted as the production process unfolds. And if you meant to contribute but didn't get to it, I'm still happy to accept support by cheque or via PayPal; email me for details. But for now, a great big thank you to all our backers. I literally can't do it without you.